Thomas: Loss to 49ers “a challenge to myself”

To say it simply enough, Seahawks safety Earl Thomas wears his emotions on his sleeve as much as any player on the team.

So Wednesday when he held his usual mid-week meeting with the media, Thomas’ demeanor made it clear he was still stewing a bit from Seattle’s 19-17 loss to the 49ers Sunday.

“I just took it as a challenge to myself,” he said. “To re-focus everything and go through all the situations that occurred in the game if we have similar situations again.”

Thomas said what was particularly galling is that he felt the 49ers did some things to take him out of the game that he now knows he will have to adjust to in the future, repeating what he often says that the NFL “is a copycat league” and when something works, other teams are sure to give it a try.

Thomas said that it was obvious early in the game that the 49ers “were not throwing it to Area 29 whatsoever.”

Asked later to elaborate on that, he said: “Especially in the first half of the season, a lot of teams were throwing it across the middle, testing my discipline, testing everything they saw on film in the past that I didn’t do a good job of. They (the 49ers) just didn’t throw it over the middle. They kind of attacked the perimeter. They were sending receivers to the third level for crackback blocks — you never see that. It caught me off-guard. But after the game, I looked down like it’s a sign of respect. and I’ve got to add that to my repertoire of just knowing how offenses want to take me out of the game and attack.”

Asked how he counters that, Thomas said: “Just really focus on the formation. When I really focus on the formation, it gives me a good indicator of how they want to run or just attack us in general and I can have a head start because I already know what’s coming most of the time. I just put myself in better position to make the play.”